CH111

With gifts given, their travels began. Steph stretched out a hand, and with an effort of mana and will tore a hole through space which they all quickly walked through. No sooner than the last person stepped across its boundary was it closed and another opened, followed by another, and another. It was like she was making miniature versions of the gates that constantly ran to allow travel between countries, and Ben couldn’t help but marvel at her magic as she went.

To completely erase the distance between two places was something he would never achieve through his own power like that. Sure, he might be able to create a tool with similar properties if he worked hard enough and could get access to the magic, but it would never truly be his, something he could work on and grow through his own efforts.

When that train of thought came to him he did his best to abandon it. There was nothing he could do about his incompatibility with magic, no use being jealous of the people he cared about, so instead he tried to turn his attention to the scenery as they passed it. The very first gate brought them out of town, and with each one that followed they got deeper and deeper into the woods, though at the tenth Steph had to stop.

“That was incredible!” He could help but tell her. “How have you gotten so cool since I last saw you?”

“Thanks, but it’s not that good.”

“It’s really not,” Her teacher agreed, sounding disappointed. “The range you sense ahead is still far too weak. Each jump brought us what, a few hundred meters?”

“I’m sorry Wedrow,” she said, giving her teacher a bow. “If you take over I’ll start practicing my spacial perception more as we go.”

The worm gave her a silent look for a moment before turning away and opening a gate himself, and when stepping through Ben immediately felt a difference. He wasn’t sure how far they’d gone, but the woods felt so much deeper compared to every single jump from Steph that the gap between student and teacher became immediately apparent.

“How much farther did we get with that one?” He couldn’t help asking, curiosity getting the better of him. Luckily for him the worm seemed willing to answer.

“Without being aware of my destination ahead of time I can manage a jump of about ten kilometers. I’ll take us through another twenty gates and from there we’ll take a break to rest and regain our mana.”

Over two hundred kilometers of travel in a span of less than an hour. It was shocking to put it mildly, the kind of power those with awakened skills could access, and Ben briefly wondered if any were worshiped as gods for their strength before dismissing the thought.

In a world with real gods, I doubt they’d be too happy about a mortal taking any valuable faith.

They continued on from gate to gate as they were produced, watching as the woods between each grew darker and denser until they finally had to stop for Wedrow to regain his mana. Steph seemed at the end of hers as well, having continued to practice her spacial perception even after exhausting herself while opening the first round of gates, so the moment Wedrow stopped she let herself collapse to the ground with Will quickly running to her side.

“Will, she’ll be fine. Leave her and ensure our immediate area is safe.”

He took a look between Steph and her teacher before doing as he was told and quickly running off to explore the surrounding woods. It was times like these Ben’s lack of combat and magic skills actually proved to be an asset. With no expectations of him he went to take a seat beside Steph, and seeing Thera unsure of what to do gestured for her to come down beside him.

“That really was incredible Steph, I can’t believe you’ve gotten so good with your magic in the past year.”

Love what you’re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

“Not too incredible. Me and Will have spent basically that whole time getting acquainted with how to use all of the abilities that anyone who worked their way to our level would already have mastered. Plus, even if I can use all the spells, I still haven’t mastered them.”

“Ha, practice is something you can’t escape,” He teased. “Speaking of, since we’re having a break, mind if I do a little myself?”